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Gold & Silver Prices Moving Down in Morning Trading

Whether it is the effects of the QE3 announcement wearing off or investor’s taking profits off the table, gold and silver prices have been moving down throughout the morning. There was news coming out this weekend from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) meeting in Tokyo. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke found himself defending QE3. International criticism is centered on currency valuations. The International community feels that Federal Reserve actions are artificially boosting their currencies, which puts them at a disadvantage for exporting their goods and services. This dialog brings into play a reoccurring theme that global currencies are in a race to the bottom.

Regarding the above mentioned race to the bottom, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde is urging Europe to roll out a bailout. The European bailout would look much like the US QE3. The European Central bank is being urged to aggressively begin buying bonds to lower the borrowing costs of the respective nation. Such measures will pump more euros into the marketplace and most likely will continue to depress the valuation of the euro. IMF’s Lagarde is also requesting that Greece be given more time to get their financial house in order.

U.S. retail sales rose more than expected in September as U.S. consumers spent more on gas and cars. The core retail sales (which do not include cars & gas) rose 0.9%. Analysts had expected a gain of 0.3%. This indicates that consumer sales from July- September were stronger than expected. The New York Federal reserve “Empire State” report was not as positive. This report is seen as a gauge of general business conditions. It did rise from a minus 10.41 to a minus 6.16, but economists were expecting minus 4.55.